Walker Refuses to Answer Questions About Emails

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker declined again Sunday to say whether he knew of the existence of a secret email system in his office when he was Milwaukee County executive.

Instead, on “Fox News Sunday,” Walker called the controversy over the emails “old news” and said Democrats were trying to switch the subject from his budget successes.

“If you look at the facts out there, this is old news,” Walker said. “This is about a case that was closed last March. A Democratic district attorney in Milwaukee County spent multiple years looking at all this information.

“The 27,000-plus pages of documents that were just released this week have been looked at by a team led by a Democrat from Milwaukee County, and last March he announced the end of that case, plain and simple. ”

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm’s office launched an investigation in May 2010 that lasted nearly three years and led to the convictions of six people, including three Walker aides, an appointee and a major campaign contributor.

Documents released Wednesday linked Walker to a secret email system that was used in his county office. The documents also showed close ties between his campaign operation and government-paid staff members during the months leading to the November 2010 election for governor.

Walker was asked again Sunday whether he knew there was a private email account.

Walker responded, “Again, it’s one of those where I point out the district attorney looked into every single one of those issues.”

“The bottom line is a Democrat who led the district attorneys office, looked at all this, decided not to charge anything other than the individuals you mentioned, who were people who had worked for the county in the past but don’t work for me today.

“It’s one of those things where they want to keep pushing this issue into the forefront because in the end the folks running against us can’t counter our positive message when it comes to the economy and creating budget surpluses.”